Materially speaking, no two people are the same, thus no two people have the same potential in all regards. So when the founding fathers of the US spoke of us all being “created equal”, they obviously had something else in mind. The answer is in the choice of the verb “create”, i.e. “created by God”. Thus, we are all equal in spiritual terms, as eternal loving servants, souls, sparks of God. Thus, we are in fact all equal before God and have the same “capacity” or ability to achieve the ultimate greatness – bliss, pure love of God and freedom of all selfishness, hatred, envy, lust, greed, etc. What other achievement could be greater than this?

These are quotes that give my perspective on this question. The first is inspiring and the second gives me a sense of understanding for others.

Capacity is nothing.

A quote about Bruce Lee-Bruce had me up to three miles a day, really at a good pace. We’d run the three miles in twenty-one or twenty-two minutes. Just under eight minutes a mile [Note: when running on his own in 1968, Lee would get his time down to six-and-a half minutes per mile]. So this morning he said to me “We’re going to go five.” I said, “Bruce, I can’t go five. I’m a helluva lot older than you are, and I can’t do five.” He said, “When we get to three, we’ll shift gears and it’s only two more and you’ll do it.” I said “Okay, hell, I’ll go for it.” So we get to three, we go into the fourth mile and I’m okay for three or four minutes, and then I really begin to give out. I’m tired, my heart’s pounding, I can’t go any more and so I say to him, “Bruce if I run any more,” –and we’re still running-”if I run any more I’m liable to have a heart attack and die.” He said, “Then die.” It made me so mad that I went the full five miles. Afterward I went to the shower and then I wanted to talk to him about it. I said, you know, “Why did you say that?” He said, “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.

We each fulfill our own share.

Albert Einstein- “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Physical capacity exist, intellectual capacity does not

I don't really get this question. The phraseology makes it sound like we're all little batteries and greatness is the charge. Greatness is subjective, so any assessment of one's capacity for such a thing is subjective as well. With that in mind, we all have the capacity for infinite greatness and we all have the capacity for zero greatness, depending upon the subject and the mindset of the observer.

I would not say that we are all capable of achieving the same greatness, but we are all capable of achieving different greatnesses.

Tough question to word.

greatness I think we have all agreed is relative to the standards compared.

My flat head screwdriver has the capacity to hammer in a nail but not as well as my hammer. To that same end I would never tighten a screw with my hammer.

Can one ever really know the limits of their capacity? Reminds me of this quote by HST:

"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others -the living- are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later."

I think that most are willingly self enslaved, in their adherence to the society codes of conduct, norms, and programming. People prostrate themselves their entire lives to achieve what their people perceive as an admirable life style, when It was never what the achiever wanted in the first place…

I believe everyone is capable of greatness, i don't believe everyone is brought up to understand this.

Part of our capacity is genetic, part enchantment, part chance, part circumstance and so on. Our personalities are very diverse and fascinating. We will never discover our potential if we don't explore what it is to be ourselves. x

Our capacity is also limited by our IQ, our genes, life circumstance, random chance, etc. So not all of us can or will achieve our full potentials.

Can you still live a meaningful, full life even if you don't achieve the pinnacle of greatness? I think so.

Thanks for the responses guys, very insightful. My understanding of capacity is linked with our free will. God has destined each of us with certain capacity, but it is up to us to channel our free will in fulfilling that. So our achievement of greatness in this world is really just a measure of how much of our capacity we have been able to fulfill.

No, we are not going to all achieve the same greatness. The idea of radical individualism is a cultural one -- very Western. Most people in the world are content to survive.

For instance, when we think of people dying in famine or war or genocide, they don't have much impact in achieving anything. Most people in the world are subject to circumstance.

If one is born in a county where overwhelming circumstances allow individual expression -- like this forum -- one should be extremely grateful. In a sense, it means that one's life is allowed to mean something.

I disagree that we all have the same capacity... There is no way that Rick Santorum has the capacity to become an intelligent scientist , it must have always been genetically impossible, I feel.

I think that everyone has a different capacity. Cause really, your capacity is moldable. And when were kids, where ever we live and who influences us just molds that. If you grew up on a farm, then you most probably will be a farmer. But peoples with disabilities are different sadly.

define "greatness" . we are not "destind" for anything.

Some of us are destined only to fulfill our share, others are destined to get many, many shares than they need - and not to share those extra shares with with those who get smaller shares than they need. If you follow my clunky prose.

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